Quote:
Originally Posted by Llarry
For me, as a naval aviation geek, the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida was almost a religious experience. Incredible.
The Big One is the Udvar Hazy Museum outside Washington D.C. I left the DC-Baltimore area in late 2003 and have not been back since, just missing the museum's opening. That one is #1 on my list but I don't think I'll make it there. I visited the Smithsonian's Air and Space on the national mall many times and that one was great; I suppose it still is.
Maybe I've got a better chance of making it to Pima. Thanks for the recommendation.
The other one I'd recommend is Planes of Fame in Chino, California. I believe they are building an upscale exhibition building. When I visited it was beastly hot in metal buildings and outside. Of course, Planes of Fame is regularly flying quite a few of their aircraft, too.
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Well, I *did* say Air Force.
Since it looks like you're in Oregon, a few others that are fun would be the
Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Everett, WA (Paul Allen's museum near Seattle), the
Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, OR (a bit south of PDX, and where the Spruce Goose lives) and the
Castle Air Museum in Atwater, CA (although it's slowly disintegrating- they do have a B-36 though).
The Paul Allen museum's level of restoration is flat-out unbelievable-- if you dropped one of their aircraft on the ramp in 1944, the crews wouldn't be able to tell that it was a restoration. For example, he actually had the cotton batting used for wire loom on the inside of the radio's reproduced. All the planes are flyable, but if it's the last example in the world, they aren't flown.
Udvar-Hazy is nice enough, but there are others out there that are as (or more) impressive. Although it's gotten much better since it opened.
And you're right of course-- the National Air & Space Museum should be on the top of everyone's list, as should be the NAF Museum in Pensacola.